New Graphic Identification for Inn Situ by Studio Mut — BP&O
Statement by Richard Baird.
Inn Situ is part of BTV Bank's cultural program and a series of three events; an exhibition, a concert and a panel discussion. This takes place two to three times a year in Innsbruck, Austria. The events differ in their approach, a Russian doll of nested stories, with each shift reacting to the next. In practice, an internationally renowned photographer has designed a project for the Inn Situ gallery to illustrate the idea. A local musician then composed a concert that responded to the photos that were played twice in the concert hall next to the exhibition. A panel discussion followed, which responded to both the exhibition and the concert.
The format remains the same, there are always three events, whereby the panel discussion and the concert should bring the topics of the artist and his exhibition into context. So far there have been three Inn Situ events, a fourth is due to take place soon. Each is accompanied by a printed program and catalog, as well as a city-wide poster campaign designed by Studio Mut in Italy. These have a similar material and visual language. For the sake of brevity, this article deals with the materials for Inn Situ 2. The framework of the visual identity and the format of the material result are the same, but each fold their own response to the themes present in the artwork, provoking the answers.
Inn Situ 2 program
Nested narratives as well as verbatim and metaphorical dialogues determine the structure of the Inn Situ printed matter and the Inn Situ website. This can be seen immediately from the material distribution and the divisible colors of the program. Proportionality and structure bring the spatial and temporal nature of events to material existence. In other words, the basic character of artistic creation and the larger space and the length of its exhibition form the basis of the book and occupy the largest space. The concert, an answer to the artwork, in the form of two performances, is somewhat smaller and forms the second level. After all, the dialogue, a one-off event that is the shortest and the last, is the smallest and is placed at the top. The course of the program is unusual in that the dialog is the last one in turn, but is presented first. It undermines expectations in favor of the conceptual.
Within the program, the visual language examines the dialogues across the page regarding the placement of individual panelists, the use of colors, and the absence of colors. The use of a largely monochrome interior gives the impression of going under the surface of an aesthetic, the initial reaction to beauty and aesthetic appeal. By placing short pages over larger ones, using color and removing color, ambiguous metaphorical spaces form between the events, a place of interpretation, a provocation to look for further meaning. As you move through the brochure, you are approaching the artwork on the back – a nice idea.
The Inn Situ logo is expanded and contracted between cover and surcharge. The allusion to a supporting framework is clear. In addition to colored ribbons, there are enough graphical means of expression to link them to the website, which is folding in a moving component, and to poster campaigns all over the city.
Inn Situ 2 catalog
The comb binding is an expression of lo-fi material, a practical approach to recognize the more conceptual nature of the event and to put different page sizes together. The catalog offers a kind of counterpoint because its formatting assumes the qualities of an art book. In between as an element of the temporal. The program's visible comb binding is a practical and economical response to a larger idea that drives and prepares an event that takes place within a certain time and place and with a larger audience. However, the catalog takes on a long view and an archival expression that exists as a document that goes beyond the time and place of the event. Since these exist within the same framework, material results of the same event in their moments of continuity and difference create a dialogue and a space between them.
The cover is a nice, small, nested narrative that reflects the volume and aesthetics of an art book and then reveals a low-fi cover that connects it to the materiality of the program. The imagery moves freely between the art book, art catalog and magazine when it comes to typesetting, editing large titles, long texts and placing images. By removing part of the graphical specificity of the program, mainly the color and its approach to material construction, it frees itself from time and place and, in its reducing nature, tries to move ideas and to engage in cultural transmission without prejudice and impulses involve nature of bright color. In this way, the academic heart and the artistic subtext of the events are recognized.
Perhaps there is another narrative and reaction. A fourth level is added when Studio Mut interprets the three events, creates a visual identity and a material result of dialogue, concert and artwork. And here the blog post becomes the fifth level, a response to a response to an artwork that has the potential to shape future events. Here art, design and writing go perfectly together. Other works by Studio Mut on BP & O.
Design: Studio Mut. Opinion: Richard Baird.
Extended credits: Inn Situ, photography, music, dialogue. For BTV Art & Culture, Innsbruck. Curated by Hans-Joachim Gögl. Design: Atelier Mut, Thomas Kronbichler, Martin Kerschbaumer, Anni Seligmann.
If you liked this, you may also like:
